{"id":910,"date":"2021-01-18T23:44:29","date_gmt":"2021-01-18T23:44:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/museumofrefugees-ks.org\/?p=910"},"modified":"2021-08-19T10:21:50","modified_gmt":"2021-08-19T10:21:50","slug":"adrian-berisha","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/museumofrefugees-ks.org\/adrian-berisha\/?lang=en","title":{"rendered":"Adrian Berisha"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Bjeshka Guri (interviewer)<\/p>\n

Adrian Berisha (interviewee)<\/p>\n

Acronyms: BG=Bjeshka Guri, AB= Adrian Berisha<\/p>\n

BG: Can you\u00a0introduce yourself?<\/p>\n

AB: I am Adrian Berisha, a citizen of Prishtina, a resident of the planet.\u00a0I am currently a member of the Municipal Assembly of Prishtina, as well as the coordinator of cultural, sports and youth events in the Municipality of Prishtina.\u00a0I try to be a link between citizens, organizations,\u00a0businesses\u00a0and the municipality …\u00a0that is the role I have, for the common good of all.<\/p>\n

BG: Thank you.\u00a0Let’s start with that, how you remember the period before the war, what are yours\u00a0a\u00a0first memory?\u00a0What was the situation like?<\/p>\n

AB: I will start with something that is very interesting,\u00a0which I realized after 20 years, even though my name is Adrian, my first name was Pajtim. It is interesting for several reasons. When I was born, it was May 8, 1990, there was a period when there was a reconciliation of blood feuds, and my grandfather insisted that they give me the name Pajtim, he was telling to the parents to name child Pajtim. My father did not agree with that name, while my grandmother was to give me the name Pajtim. Then my father convinced them, it lasted for two or three weeks, then the name was Pajtim … not registered, on paper, but like that … it was somehow interesting, then they decided to give me another name … this is something I don’t remember because it’s impossible, but something I’d like to share with you. This is definitely related to 90s.\u00a0The first thing I remember was the year 1994, then as a four-year-old I have a picture, I don’t remember if it was the World Cup or the European Championship, and we were at my grandfather’s, we watched football and I know I asked for a hamburger and we did not have the conditions to afford it.\u00a0And then after a few years, I realized why we didn’t have the conditions, and that was precisely because there was a parallel system, when my father, grandfather and grandmother were fired.\u00a0In this part, I remember that the neighbourhoods had nothing, they started collecting some wood in the settlement, it was an initiative of Albanians from the settlement, ____________, we also had Roma, Turks, Bosniaks and mostly Albanians.\u00a0We had very few Serbs, because according to what my grandparents told me, they did not accept to live here, because they could not live in an environment where there are so many other nations.\u00a0And then I remember a good organization, where my grandfather was\u00a0as\u00a0chairman of the village, it was very interesting, and then I remember the 1997 or 1996, as a memory I remember when I went to register at the first-class school, and I saw a division in the school.\u00a0The Dardania school was divided into Serbian and Albanian parts, and it was very interesting.\u00a0And now that I remember that period, and the time itself and the fact that the school was divided, they managed to convey that the school was divided.\u00a0There were a lot of fights, there were moments when Serbs and Albanians fought …. in the 1996 I was in the first grade, 1997 in the second grade, 1998 in the third grade.\u00a0In 1998 I remember it started with this topic about the beginning of the war, the public appearance of the KLA, 1997-1998 if I’m not mistaken, and there was some kind of\u00a0psychological\u00a0pressure\u00a0on me, because I was supposed to do some painting instead or with some mathematical equations or to learn the alphabet.\u00a0At that time, I was actually burdened with this topic as an 8-year-old in that period, the news, Arif Vladi, this-that, I mean burdened with many things.\u00a0I remember that in that period, apart from these topics, there were some series and I would like to mention this, there was a series of Cassandra, and all people watched that series in that period, and\u00a0watching this series I managed to learn … and I don’t know how I managed, or how my brain perceived that, but I managed to learn one part of Cyrillic.\u00a0So, I started learning a little Serbian.\u00a0Then there was a very difficult moment, in 1998 … when I was playing with children from the neighbourhoods, in the Dardania neighbourhoods, I inadvertently hit the car of a Serbian policeman with a ball and then that policeman beat me, so I urinated in the pants\u2026.you know, I was a child and due to thecfear.\u00a0Then the grandmother met this guy on the steps, pushed him and he fell, and he injured his head, there was a kind of panic at the entrance.\u00a0Then\u00a0there was an\u00a0immense panic in ’99, and my grandmother was very scared, because that character was a member of the military police, and there was one fear, and I know that the complete family was___________.\u00a0I also want to mention something more interesting, several tournaments were organized in our settlement in Dardania, where Serbs played against Albanians, it was in \u2018\u2019Spine\u2019\u2019 (name of settlement)<\/em><\/u>,\u00a0football was\u00a0played\u00a0and there were a lot of fans, those with flags, we with our flags …..they fought, it was very interesting.\u00a0And what else can I say, there was a policeman in our settlement of Dardania, called Black Dragan, and then they say that he beat a lot of Albanians, and most of us from our neighbourhoods, children aged 15-16 sold cigarettes, and wherever he found them, he would take their cigarettes and beat them.\u00a0This is\u00a0more or less, and then came that moment in March of ’99, more precisely the bombing.\u00a0We received a phone call as a family, from my father’s cousin, who is from Bujanovac.\u00a0They received something there as news that the bombing of Serbia by NATO would begin soon.\u00a0I remember it was on TV Albania … I don’t remember if it was on TVSH or some other Albanian media, which announced that NATO had started bombing.\u00a0We automatically turned off all the lights in the room in the evening, we brought the beds closer to the windows and we slept much farther from the windows.\u00a0I don’t know how to explain it,\u00a0we slept on the floor … I don’t know, we put mattresses and slept on the floor … and I know that one night they bombed the military barracks in Fush\u00eb Kosov\u00eb, and it was very bad in general, .. ..there was a lot of panic, because all the windows in the apartment broke down, and it was very disturbing … and I saw one unusual panic, my father and everything together.<\/p>\n

There have been sirens in the city since that night, so when the sirens go off now, I still have a kind of panic.\u00a0There was a general panic in the city then.\u00a0The family was in complete shock, considering the conflict that existed between the grandmother and the police officer at the time, it was always said that they could come, they would massacre us.\u00a0We installed one iron door in the hallway\u00a0at the entrance\u00a0… it is interesting that all the entrances\u00a0in the settlement of Dardania, before reaching the entrance door, had one iron door and all such doors were installed by Albanians because they were afraid that someone would break into them. in the apartment.\u00a0During one day\u00a0when my family members were talking to each other, I heard a little bit … they decided we had to leave.\u00a0I know that in February and March we accepted a family from Podujevo because in one part of Podujevo ….. now when I talk about this I remember many things ….. and in one part of Drenica started fighting and the people started to flee, and I know that we accepted several families from Podujevo, from a village in Balovac, and then, you know, I remember that when I talk about it, about how we slept.<\/p>\n

BG: What was the routine during that period?<\/p>\n

AB: It was very interesting.\u00a0In one apartment of 70 square meters with two rooms and a kitchen, there were about 30 of us.\u00a0It was a kind of solidarity, our families with other Albanian families coming from the areas where the war started.\u00a0We opened the door and told them Come on, come on.\u00a0The routine was such that we slept where we could, for example.\u00a0When we got up in the morning, such as our patriarchal families, women when they got up would prepare food, pies, etc … they would eat something, they would sit and joke, the children would go out to play a little.\u00a0When they came back they would play a little, people would sit in one room and talk.\u00a0Women were in another room ….. we need to accept that even today something like that exists in our society, men in one place, women in another … and it was more or less like that.\u00a0There was always something interesting, what’s going on … is someone coming to break into our apartment to kill us, to massacre us … to take men, to take them to be shot …. all the time we listened to different News.\u00a0There was, say, a boy named Fitim, he was the son of Uncle Farik.\u00a0He was with his uncles, and on the way back he was taken by the police and killed.\u00a0The whole theme about\u00a0the case of Fitim created\u00a0the\u00a0panic\u00a0in our families …. Does my father could be next Fitim, because at that time he was 35-36 years old.\u00a0I know that children__________, but I know that panic was mostly for older men, for people who are older.\u00a0And then, as I said earlier, the whole family was upset, mostly the medicine that was used the most was benzidine, I know that cigarettes were sold very expensively in that period.\u00a0There was one of our neighbours from the Roma community, Bajram, who was selling cigarettes at the time, because only he could go out to buy cigarettes somewhere and bring them to our entrance.\u00a0I know it was his turn when Bajram came, everyone went out to buy from him.\u00a0Then people began to run out of money, and Bajram lent only to his neighbours with whom he was good.\u00a0My father was on good terms with Bajram, and I know there were no problems with that period of the war … I remember there were Pal\u00a0Mal\u00a0cigarettes, and others that my father smoked a lot.\u00a0And one day, I don’t know how it happened, the family consulted, and a decision was made that we should flee from Pristina, Kosovo.\u00a0In that period, Blace was mentioned,\u00a0 .. Blace …. and I remember as today, there was a great panic because the war zones began to approach to Pristina, shops began to close, other problems … it was not possible to buy bread, there was nothing.\u00a0Whole familiy, I don’t know how it was decided, I didn’t even ask how … family decided that we should all leave Kosovo and go to Macedonia via Blace.\u00a0I remember that walk from Dardania to the train station, it was a long way, it seemed to us that it was a long way then …. and now when I talk to my grandmother and when I compare with\u00a0today, now it is very close, 3-4 minutes is from the Dardania school to the train station.\u00a0I know that it was the beginning of spring then, we walked from the\u00a0apartments of\u00a0Solidarity and we were not allowed to go through the tunnel, because then they said that something could happen in the tunnel.\u00a0We crossed the \u2018\u2019Spine\u2019\u2019, we came out at the place where the Bill Clinton monument is now, then we continued on the road towards ex-Fazite\u00a0factory\u00a0, we continued to go straight, and then we continued to move on the right side, where there is now a traffic roundabout, and I remember There was a moment when my grandmother (my father’s mother) was Sadeta, she was somehow … very\u00a0weak, even though it was spring.\u00a0And on the way we walked, we saw the first spring flowers … and my grandmother noticed that and said “hey, spring has arrived” … I want to say that we didn’t even notice that spring had begun.\u00a0We needed to get out of the apartments to notice that some tree had started to shed its spring buds and flower blossoms.\u00a0We got on the train, I know that during the trip there was a problem, where to go by train …. I know that in a conversation with the family, there was talk that the train would go to Nis, I don’t know why …. it\u00a0was said that in the train in which we climbed, in one of the carriages was also Ferid Agani.\u00a0I don’t know if that was true, but I know that we were stopped on the way for 3-4 hours and that the police got on the train and it was torture that was very difficult for me, as a 9-year-old, when I now think only of that.\u00a0I know that during the trip I saw a burning body of a man, and it was a big shock for me since I saw it.\u00a0And I don’t remember anything anymore, but only that as a 9-year-old I saw terrible things and all that I survived.\u00a0I think it influenced me to create the consciousness I have today and what makes me the person I am now, as if there were some consequences that affected me and the experience from those years 1994 \/ 19995 – to 1999.\u00a0All that psychological torture that we survived.<\/p>\n

Before we got to Blace, one thing was very interesting, when we arrived at the last\u00a0train\u00a0station\u00a0by train, there were Serbian police on both sides and all the Albanians were walking on the rails to cross to Blace.\u00a0(I was very attached to my grandparents, now my grandfather is deceased, but I always wanted to go to them even though I lived with my parents).<\/p>\n

And I know that I got off the rails and walked the other part, and everyone then said don’t go off the rails on the side because there are bombs planted, and in fact the police were standing on those sides.\u00a0And then they\u00a0panicked that I got off the rails … walked on those stones … and then, I don’t remember exactly whether I asked my grandmother or grandfather what they were telling us that there were bombs there and they were standing on those sides by themselves?<\/p>\n

Then we arrived in Blace.\u00a0As a family, I forgot to mention that we were: Nazif Berisha (that was my grandfather, now deceased), Sadeta- that is my grandmother, Blerim-father, Bahrija-mother, me, brother Argent- (born April 92 ‘) – at that time he was 7 years old and the youngest brother who was then one year and three months old – Dren, born in June 1997\u00a0, which at that time was almost 2 years old and not 1 and three months old.\u00a0There we met other family members I know there was one tent, we didn’t make\u00a0some big tent with a big roof, but just one smaller tent some 2 meters high …. I think it was maybe smaller, 1 meter high, just a man can go inside and lie down.\u00a0More or less the respect was given to women, they were father\u2019s aunts – Miradi, Bukurija, grandmother … all were lying, too, and the children had the advantage.\u00a0I know that one part … we were sitting outside like that, it was raining and we stayed like that in Blace.\u00a0There were also … I don’t know who distributed aid during that period, there were trucks throwing bread, p\u00e2t\u00e9s … everything and anything.\u00a0I know one interesting story,\u00a0Laura- otherwise my father’s uncle’s sister, and Adelina ….. we joked and they\u00a0said, don’t eat these p\u00e2t\u00e9s because they contain drugs.\u00a0Indeed, those p\u00e2t\u00e9s were produced in the Droga factory … then people threw them away and these two girls would take them and bring them to us.\u00a0A little funny now, but all these ideas were to survive.\u00a0Then to Blace, I don’t know exactly how long we stayed, 48 hours … but the mother decided – “I don’t want to stay there anymore, I’ll take the children and leave.”\u00a0There was also some panic, could you cross from Blace to Macedonia?\u00a0Some could not cross, or someone had to come for you, people paid the police to cross the border.\u00a0Mother took us boys, father was after us, grandparents … everyone was somehow in shock.\u00a0Now that I look at it, the reason was the use a lot of medication in order to calm down.\u00a0Then I know, I don’t remember exactly, but I don’t remember much of the moment when we started to cross the\u00a0border.\u00a0During this period, we did not know where most of the family was, we did not know about the aunt, there was some panic – whether she called or somehow – how to contact, etc.\u00a0Etc.\u00a0Then we set off, and we came to the border, and there was a kind of panic at the border, and we managed to cross into Macedonia as a family.\u00a0We got on one bus, on the bus during the trip we didn’t know where we were going or where they were taking us, there were too many people on the bus.\u00a0And then on the way we arrived, if I’m not mistaken for the UNHCR destination, to eat something.\u00a0There were some biscuits, some like drumsticks, and we stopped there to eat something.\u00a0It was very good, and I went to the bathroom, and when I came back the bus was no longer there.\u00a0There was a lot of panic, so others shouted get on the bus, get on … and in the bus that can accommodate 50 people, there were 200-300 people.\u00a0I don’t know, there were a lot of people.\u00a0And as my family told me, I was left alone there … the bus left, a couple of UNHCR staff stayed there, I stayed … the family didn’t know I wasn’t there.\u00a0… too many people\u00a0(like in the movie Kevin, Home alone- when they later realize that Kevin isn’t there).\u00a0My parents didn’t know, they thought I was there, but on the way my grandmother asked where Adrian was.\u00a0All I know is that another bus came later and I got on the same one, which was also a big shock for me.<\/p>\n

BG: Did you have any idea where that bus was going?<\/p>\n

AB: No I didn’t, now when you would ask me … I don’t remember exactly, I just know that everything that happened … where the family is, it was all a strong shock to me, as far as I can remember … although 21 years have passed since then, but I had no idea until we got to one mosque.\u00a0When we reached the mosque in a village near Gostivar, the bus reached that place.\u00a0I was lost in the mosque in some way, and I went inside the mosque.\u00a0The mosque was with mattresses, people where they slept, there were older women and men, over 60 years old.\u00a0I had another room where they took care of me, there were other people with health problems, with various things …. when I went inside, I had a place to sleep, and I know that at some time I stayed in that mosque, I served tea, and so …<\/p>\n

BG: No\u00a0notice<\/p>\n

AB: Without any notice, I couldn’t speak … I couldn’t at all, I kept everything to myself!\u00a0After a period of time in the mosque, I started to meet these people, I didn’t know where my family was..I accidentally met my father’s uncle, Ramush …. my father’s uncle and I were together in Blace, I accidentally met him and I started shouting “Oh Uncle Ramusha” … and I ran and hugged him, and I will never forget this because it was ….. in the courtyard of the mosque there was a place where the believers took ablution, it was there are plenty of fountains.\u00a0… and when I saw him there, I was running.\u00a0It is interesting that the family was four villages from this place, they were in the village of Gradevac.\u00a0When I met my father’s uncle, he went completely crazy with happiness … no one knows what he thought, that I didn’t stay somewhere, that I didn’t get lost.\u00a0After that, I went and met my family, and it was a shock … you know, I cried a lot, while I was in the mosque there I didn’t cry, but when I met my family I cried a lot.\u00a0From that place, I know that we went to Kumanovo, to\u00a0my mother’s family … my mother’s cousins \u00a0live in Kumanovo, and we went there and stayed with them.\u00a0We had one problem later, why we couldn\u2019t stay with them.\u00a0My father again demanded that we return to the camp in the village of Gradevac, because my father’s uncle was there, and I know that we stayed in Kumanovo for only 3 days and then we returned to the village of Gradevac.\u00a0On the way back, I didn’t feel well, I had some anger, panic, I couldn’t breathe, I was very bad.\u00a0I had various psychological attacks.\u00a0When we returned, there were several graves, maybe that also affected the situation … when we opened the window we would look at the graves.<\/p>\n

I stayed in one house with my grandparents, while my father, mother and two younger brothers stayed in another house.<\/p>\n

There were two brothers who accepted us, the time while we were there, in their homes.\u00a0We started to meet them, they were two brothers, Jalal and\u00a0Metalija, we called their wives Jalalica and Metalica. \u00a0And then I had various problems, my grandmother told me that I should go to school, and I started going to school there in Gostivar, there were very few refugee children who went to school, I know I started learning Cyrillic, they had we and some other departments … we started playing football, they played football there, from the village of Gradevac and the village_______, my father started working in a camp, I don’t know exactly what was the name – Stankovac or Senakovac.\u00a0You know life in the camp is like, every 3-4 days we went to get food, clothing, etc., etc …\u00a0in onecar we would\u2019ve brought to here.\u00a0We met\u00a0that\u00a0family, we would sit there, there were a couple of bakeries nearby, when we played football we would eat muffins … I have a few photos that keep those memories alive from that place.\u00a0This family that kept us, was one family with two brothers.\u00a0The one we were with had two sons and a daughter.\u00a0Those two guys were good football players, as I mentioned earlier, we played football all the time.\u00a0One day we got the news that my aunt was in another camp, and it was a great joy for the family … and then we went to visit Aunt Shqipa.\u00a0Another aunt, otherwise my grandfather was married to two women, I have one aunt from my grandparents and another aunt whose father is my grandfather… and\u00a0we were very close.\u00a0Aunt Shpresa and uncle Lul were near our village, an hour’s drive away, while Aunt Shqipe was somewhere else, in another camp.\u00a0We went to visit Aunt Shpresa and uncle Lul, they decided to go to America, Aunt Shpresa and uncle Ljulj decided to return to Kosovo … Aunt Shqipe, now to describe a nice moment, we got on the train, got dressed and we got ready, we went to visit her there in the camp.\u00a0There was everything on the train journey, pies, peppers … they prepared everything for me to take with them.\u00a0It was an emotional moment when we met, and then Aunt Shqipe decided to go to Germany.\u00a0We as a family had the opportunity to go somewhere else.\u00a0Mother had a great desire to go to another country, as refugees … we had the opportunity to choose because my father worked at Mercy Corps as the coordinator of the whole camp and he had the opportunity to choose.\u00a0It was whether we were going to Germany, since my uncle was there, or we were going somewhere else … and my grandfather, as a great nationalist, said: Kosovo is now free and I want to return to my place.\u00a0Although my mother wanted to go somewhere else, although my grandfather also said: if you want to go somewhere, please go … but if I don’t come back and step on a free Kosovo with my foot, I won’t afford it to myself….<\/p>\n

And then there were a lot of events in\u00a0Gradevac\u00a0, we played hoses,\u00a0with the ball, we started to forget about the problems,\u00a0we started to get to know the whole village, it was very good.\u00a0Unfortunately,\u00a0I have not visit it since the end of the war.\u00a0What is worth mentioning is that during the period of 2004 when the war started there, we accepted them, and it was not to repay their debt but we felt obliged and during different periods when there were other problems, health, they always came and were treated. Kosovo because my grandmother worked as a nurse and my father is still a radiology technician.\u00a0How to say they worked in the hospital and allowed them to be treated here, instructed them what to do next etc etc …<\/p>\n

Then when we decided to return, there was another separation, separation from the village of Gradevac and so on.\u00a0I was not well again, I had various problems, with sleep, non-stop I had\u00a0seizures, panic, fear … which arose from travel and things I saw.\u00a0Then we returned to Kosovo, I know it was in one car and I don’t remember who was there and who drove us.\u00a0I remember when we came Veternik was very interesting, we started from Gostivar, then Skopje, Kacanik, Ferizaj … there was no construction on Veternik then, and then when we came to Pristina, it was such a good feeling.\u00a0As my grandfather would describe it – “It was the best feeling in my life”.<\/p>\n

And then after that in Kosovo, as far as I remember, we went back to school.<\/p>\n

BG: What was the condition of the apartment when you returned?<\/p>\n

AB: The apartment was very interesting.\u00a0The neighbour from the lower floor, Faik, used (we found out later), the only phone that was working in the neighbourhood at the time, was ours..no one knows how\u00a0, why it stayed like that (?!) ..\u00a0.our apartment was a place where others came and\u00a0telephoned with others.\u00a0When we came, everything was kind of bad, spoiled.\u00a0The beds, the bookshelves, all the things, it was dirty … for a few days we didn’t know where to stay, we had the opportunity to enter the Serbian apartments … when they left, there were Roma who went with them as well.\u00a0Grandpa was against it – “I don’t want to take someone’s apartment” – and then the apartments of Serbs and other nations began to be usurped by Albanians from various villages … and there was what we all know, on the doors was written KLA or busy ..just\u00a0… I think this was a moment of deviation from the famous KLA struggle, those would materialize it, they would abuse those names and letters … The same thing worth mentioning, my father’s cousin Mentor who worked in London, we learned in the camp that he had returned and joined the KLA army, and that he had been in the fighting at Koshare.\u00a0And that was a feeling, it was a good feeling with the whole family because none of us managed to contribute to the war and take a rifle for the Fatherland.\u00a0Although my grandmother and my father contributed in some way and that shows that my grandmother during 1998 years, although she had a ban,\u00a0in a white coat,\u00a0spoke very good Serbian\u00a0and said that she was\u00a0Serbian,\u00a0and\u00a0so she brought\u00a0water\u00a0to the\u00a0Albanians in the hospital\u00a0and food due to the reason\u00a0that they were in a bad situation.\u00a0And now to follow up on what I said about my father’s cousin from London … that feeling was very good.\u00a0The most interesting thing was when the questions were asked then, the older generations from over 20 to 40 … how he came from London and now after a few years we realized that a large number of Albanians from London came and joined during the war but not only from London, but also from other places.\u00a0I also know that Mentor, after the war ended and when he returned, who was in such good health, he survived everything and anything.\u00a0After we returned, my father stayed and managed the camp there, as I said before he was the\u00a0Camp Coordinator.\u00a0We started to get used to the new situation here, and later, as a 10-year-old in 2000, I understood a lot, what is happening, but now from this time and retrospective and when I think about what happened, 2000-2010 and now as a 30-year-old in 2020 I see a lot, it hurts me and because of society it could have been … and we could create a better management system of our institutions in this place of ours.\u00a0Various problems with international organizations and neoliberal approach, privatization and other things … when I think about it, how I wasn’t a little older in some years then, how I could contribute as much as possible to avoid such a big deviation, some things …\u00a0now you have let’s say sick health, education that educates, you have false justice …<\/p>\n

Let’s say I know that in our school Dardania, the principal is from the political party, then the teachers started coming from different families … and that’s where it started badly, and it brought us to where we are now.\u00a0I believe if we managed to lead better then after the war, I believe that we would have a better situation now.\u00a0What is worth mentioning is that in 2002-2003 there was a group from the settlement of Vranjevac, they were called Bald, wherever they found children, they would beat them.\u00a0I know that they once came to the settlement of Dardania, and when I saw them, I could not breathe and I could not pronounce my name.\u00a0And then later I had a speech problem, I had a lot of problems.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BG: Were the Bald Albanians?<\/p>\n

AB: Yes, they were Albanians.\u00a0They were all bald, and in 2002-2003, wherever they met children, they would take their money, and so on.\u00a0And I know when I went to the doctor, he told me that the problem I had was not from now on but from before … that had accumulated inside, so I had a problem a lot with speech, and I believe that problem arose as a product\u00a0of what I survived from 1997 – ‘2003 in general.\u00a0Total shock.\u00a0Then life went on for some time, quite interesting.\u00a0I played football; I was one of the better football players in Kosovo.\u00a0I started playing in Ramiz Sadik, then in Pristina.\u00a0I was also an\u00a0excellent student, then in 2005 in high school I was diagnosed with cancer, and then I took another life course.\u00a0My dream of becoming a football player has faded and I am where I am now.<\/p>\n

AB: Any questions?<\/p>\n

BG: Apart from these problems that you identified, you emphasized that they could be the result of what you survived during the war, whether you notice something every day that you can identify as a consequence, and something that you survived and how you deal with those memories o dialy basis and what you survived\u00a0in that period?<\/p>\n

AB: Let me tell you, wherever I see a police officer, I still have fear … even though the Kosovo police officers, who speak Albanian, when I see a blue uniform … I notice that I panic, as if I can’t do well, I’m breathing.\u00a0I noticed, there are a lot of details, when I talk, they come to my mind, there were protests, they came, there was a lot of noise … they beat my father’s cousin, and another one (Dugi), that’s something I saw when they beat him in the settlement.\u00a0There were many different things, now I noticed when I see a police officer I panic.\u00a0I had the biggest panic when I went to see my uncles, who are in Bujanovac, in the part that is in Serbia … in that part of Presevo, that part of Ana Morava.\u00a0When I was crossing the border and when a policeman came in to take information, ID cards, passports … there was something, that after 4-5 years I saw\u00a0a Serb in a uniform asking me something.\u00a0There were also those cars, those \u2018\u2019Zastava\u2019\u2019 in blue.\u00a0There was a kind of fear.\u00a0So, I generally believe that I have the consequences of consciousness that I do not notice during the day, which are the product of those experiences.\u00a0I notice that if … the specific case was a few weeks ago when some children were throwing firecrackers and one firecracker exploded … I couldn’t breathe.\u00a0Then I stopped and said, “Why are you throwing firecrackers?”\u00a0When I asked them “What year were you born”? … they replied that they were 2001 … Then I told them “That’s why you throw firecrackers, because if you were born in the ’90s or’ 80s, you wouldn’t throw firecrackers … They then asked me “And why” …\u00a0then I explained to them.\u00a0The noise when I hear it then creates some shock.\u00a0Some reaction of mine that I can’t control … I get a panic, which I believe is the product of all those experiences that I mentioned earlier.<\/p>\n

BG: Ok, if you don’t have something else to add …<\/p>\n

AB: More or less, that’s it, there are a lot of details, there are … now that I’m talking, I remember some things.\u00a0One more thing, there was one Mileva on my floor, she was Serbian, and my grandmother said that the relations with her were more than friendly, a real neighbourhood and I grew up in her arms, her daughter grew up in the arms of my grandmother …. , and I know when one of the bombing happened, and when it happened in one of the cafeterias, I don’t know in which city …. which they did themselves, some say it was a conspiracy …. Serbs accused Albanians, Albanians Serbs … I know that my grandmother said that from the moment it happened, the relationship became weaker and weaker … there were no more neighbourhoods … there were “A Shiptars”, we “Shkije”, so.\u00a0It is painful because I believe that as people we need to think more about peace and against war,\u00a0and in the end we are very small … it would be better if there was no war, both Albanians and Serbs as well as other peoples in Kosovo and the Balkans … we would live in harmony as we lived in the ’70s, although someone says that Serbs, Croats and Slovenians had an advantage, because there was no real brotherhood and unity .. I believe that period was better for life than the period after war and the period we live in now.\u00a0I would always call for peace and against war.<\/p>\n

BG: Thank you<\/p>\n

AB: Thank you too<\/p>\n

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Bjeshka Guri (interviewer) Adrian Berisha (interviewee) Acronyms: BG=Bjeshka Guri, AB= Adrian Berisha BG: Can you\u00a0introduce yourself? AB: I am Adrian Berisha, a citizen of Prishtina, a resident of the planet.\u00a0I am currently a member of the Municipal Assembly of Prishtina, as well as the coordinator of cultural, sports and youth events in the Municipality […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":922,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/museumofrefugees-ks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/910"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/museumofrefugees-ks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/museumofrefugees-ks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/museumofrefugees-ks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/museumofrefugees-ks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=910"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/museumofrefugees-ks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/910\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1405,"href":"https:\/\/museumofrefugees-ks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/910\/revisions\/1405"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/museumofrefugees-ks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/museumofrefugees-ks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/museumofrefugees-ks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/museumofrefugees-ks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}